


Night Nurse

by MorganaNK



Category: Inspector Lynley - All Media Types, Inspector Lynley Mysteries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-25 19:55:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13220067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorganaNK/pseuds/MorganaNK
Summary: Tommy is suffering, so Barbara gives up her New Year's Eve to nurse him...





	1. New Year's Eve

**Author's Note:**

> Property of Elizabeth George and the BBC... no copyright infringement intended
> 
> _You can blame this on the Lemsip..._

Juggling two shopping bags, I freed one hand, rang the doorbell to Tommy’s townhouse, and then waited for him to open the door. I had a key, but he wasn’t expecting me, and I thought he might consider me rude if I just let myself in. 

After a few moments he appeared, coughing and spluttering with a tissue held to his nose.

“Barbara?”

“Hello Sir,” I pushed past him and then closed the front door. “Let’s not let all the warmth to escape.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to look after you. I understand that man-flu can be quite deadly.”

He coughed and then blew his nose loudly. “I’m not feeling up to company.”

“That’s good, because I’m not here as company.” I turned him round and herded him into his lounge. “Think of me as your nurse.”

“Surely you have better things to do on New Year’s Eve?”

“No, and even if I did I wouldn’t leave you to suffer alone. Now, sit down, relax, and let me get things organised. Have you eaten?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You feed a cold and starve a fever.”

“I’ve been sticking to liquids; my throat is sore.”

“Yes, I expect you’ve been consuming plenty of whiskey hot toddies, without much hot or much toddy knowing you. Go and sit down, I’ll make you some chicken soup.”

He turned his back on me, shuffling over to the couch. “I didn’t know you were Jewish.”

“Excuse me?”

He lay down and covered himself with a blanket, “chicken soup. It’s known as Jewish Penicillin.”

“Trust you to know that! Well, I’m not Jewish, but chicken soup is warming and nutritious, and even I can’t muck up putting in a saucepan and heating it.”

“You didn’t get soup-in-a-mug?”

“No, I didn’t! You can be really ungrateful at times Sir, but on this occasion I shall ignore it and chalk it up to your ill health. Right, standing around here isn’t getting you fed.” I turned on my heel and headed off to his kitchen, lugging the shopping bags with me.

Twenty minutes later I was back and carrying a tray loaded with soup, water, and medication. I helped him get upright, tucked the blanket around him, and balanced the tray on his lap.

“Thank you, Barbara. I’m sorry for being grumpy.”

“No problem, I’m used to you being a grump. Now, eat up before it gets cold, and then take your medication. I’ll be back in a bit…”

I came back into the lounge after tidying the kitchen. Tommy had finished eating, his tray abandoned on the floor next to the couch. A quick glance told me that he had taken his medication before curling up under the blanket and going to sleep. Switching off the opera that he had left playing in the background, I perched on the edge of the coffee table and tenderly brushed a stray lock of hair back off his forehead, then kissing him softly. Retrieving the tray, I headed towards the door, pausing for a moment to look back at him.

“I love you Tommy Lynley. I’m never going to tell you when you’re awake, but when you’re drugged up to the eyeballs on Night Nurse, I’m prepared to take the risk…” 

I waited until Barbara left the room, then opened my eyes and smiled; her words doing me far more good than any soup or medicine would.

“I love you too Barbara Havers, and when I’m feeling better I’m going to show you just how much.”

Still smiling, I drifted off to sleep.


	2. Early New Year's Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _The Lemsip made me do it_

I woke again in the early hours of the morning, with a stiff neck and clear sinuses; I knew which was preferable.

I sat upright, swinging my feet onto the floor and stretching cautiously.

“Feeling better?”

I jumped, and then turned in the direction of the voice; Barbara’s voice, surprised to see her sitting on the opposite couch.

“You scared me.”

“Guilty conscience?”

“No, I just didn’t expect you to still be here.”

“Why? I said that I was here to nurse you and, unless you have had a miraculous recovery, you still need me as your nurse.”

“Just how long are you planning to hang around?” My poor choice of words and the look of hurt on Barbara’s face made me wince, so I hurried to try and fix things, “sorry, I mean surely you aren’t planning to stay here for all of your days off shift. You must have other commitments.”

“I’ll be here for as long as you need me, or until we drive each other so mad that we either need to take a break from each other or be done for murder.”

“We’re not that bad.” She raised a questioning eyebrow at me. “We used to be that bad.” The eyebrow went higher. “Okay, we can be that bad.”

“Finally, we agree on something!” She smiled at me affectionately, “how are you feeling?”

“Like someone has removed all the cotton wool from my head and I can breathe for the first time in three days.”

“That would be the medication. You do know that there’s no prizes for being a martyr?”

“I didn’t have anything in my bathroom cabinet, and I felt too ill to go out and get something suitable.”

She rolled her eyes, “you have a phone, and you have a friend who also has a phone, and a car, and money. Need I go on?”

“I didn’t like to impose.”

“So, you decided to suffer instead. As I said Sir, there’s no prizes for being a martyr. Now, why don’t you go up to bed and get some proper sleep.”

“And what are you going to do?”

“Be around if you need me.”

“I know you teased me that man-flu can be quite deadly, but I am not going to curl up and die if you go to bed for eight hours or so.”

“I’m fine Sir.”

“Humour me Barbara. If you won’t go home then please feel free to use my spare room, but I want you to get some sleep. You don’t want to get so run down that you fall ill too.”

She held her hands up in a gesture of surrender, “okay, okay, I’ll take up the offer of the spare room, but if you need anything then just come and wake me.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine, and Barbara, thank you for giving up your New Year’s Eve, and your New Year’s Day to look after me. As I said earlier, I’m sure you had better things to do, so I really do appreciate it.”

“And as I said to you earlier, I didn’t have anything better to do, and I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I left you to suffer alone.”

I reached across the table and took one of her hands in mine, bringing it to my lips and kissing the back of it. “You’re much more than a friend to me; much, much more.” Casting my gaze upwards I saw that she was blushing and decided not to push things further, “now I am going to bed and so should you.” Kissing her hand once more, I let it go and then left the room.


	3. New Beginnings & Happily Ever Afters

I couldn’t sleep, not after talking to Tommy. My mind was working overtime, trying to fathom what he had meant by the phrase much more than a friend. I knew I shouldn’t get my hopes up, and I was probably reading far too much into his words, but maybe, just maybe, he loved me as much as I loved him.

I glanced at my watch, it was only just seven. I couldn’t lie in bed any longer. Decision made, I headed down to the kitchen to rustle up some toast and a large mug of coffee…

As I made my way down the stairs to get a coffee I could hear grumbling and swearing. I stopped and listened as Barbara made threats to my toaster.

“Look you obstinate piece of expensive tat, the idea is, I put bread in you and you give me toast in return. Toast is when you make the bread hot and brown, not spitting it out exactly the same as when I put it in!”

I stepped closer to the door.

“You know something, at home I’ve got a real toaster, one that only cost me a fiver from Tesco. It knows its job, and it does it, but you, just because you’re expensive, do you think you’re above toasting shop sliced bread or something?”

This time I stepped into the room, just in time to see her hurl the untoasted slice of bread across the room.

“Good morning Barbara, I see that you and my toaster have become acquainted.”

“Toaster? That thing isn’t a toaster,” she waved her hand at it, “it’s the devil dressed in stainless steel!”

I bent down and retrieved the slice of bread from the floor before putting it in the bin.

“There is a knack to it.”

“I bet there bloody is! Let me guess, it’s like a woman and you have to whisper sweet nothings to it for it to cooperate?”

“Perhaps it’s a man, and you have to shout at it and threaten violence.”

“I’ve tried that, it didn’t work.”

I moved her to one side, took two slices of bread from the loaf and inserted it in the toaster. A couple of minute later two perfectly toasted slices popped out.

“See! It’s bloody witchcraft!”

“It’s not, I’m just use to its quirks and foibles.”

“Just like I’m used to yours.”

“Yes, you are, and yet you still give up your free time, and put your career at risk for me. Which begs me to ask you the question, why?”

She turned away from me and went to the fridge, retrieving the butter and jam. I crossed over to her and put my hands on her shoulders.

“I heard what you said to me last night Barbara, and I want you to know that I feel the same.”

Her body went rigid beneath my palms, and knew that I had to talk fast before she shut down and changed the subject or blew her top.

“I’ve been in love with you for so long Barbara, but I never thought that you could feel the same way about me, and so I decided that I would rather have you in my life as a friend than not have you in it at all. When you kissed me last night, when you told me that you loved me, I was the happiest I have been for a very long time, perhaps in forever.”

She put the butter and jam on the counter and turned to face me. “Is that what you meant, when we were talking, just before we went to bed?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you come right out and say what you meant then?”

“Probably for the same reason you told me when you thought I was knocked out on man-flu meds.”

She took a step forward and slid her arms around my waist, “we are a right pair.”

I tugged her closer, “we are.”

“I was lying in bed for hours, unable to sleep, because all I could think about was you. I came down to make breakfast, and I was going to bring it to you in bed, but then your satanic toaster wouldn’t cooperate with me, and my plans fell apart.”

“I’m glad, because you did enough waiting on me hand, foot and finger last night. The medication cleared my head, and I took some more when I woke. I assume it was you that left it and a glass of water by my bed?”

“I did. I put it in there after you fell asleep on the couch, or at least I thought you were asleep.”

“I was dozing, and I’m not going to apologise for playing possum, not when it worked out so well for both of us.”

She shook her head, “this is going to change so much.”

“It is, but change can be good, and what better time for change than the start of a new year?”

“You are sure about this, because with me, what you see is what you get?”

“I’m one hundred percent positive. How about you? Are you ready for everything a relationship with me entails?”

“Hmmm, let me see. On the one hand I’ll have to give up working with you, on the other, well I suppose I could start a new career as a night nurse.”

“I think you’d look very sexy as a nurse.”

She playfully slapped me, then raised her hand and felt my forehead.

“You appear to be running a temperature Mr Lynley.” 

“It’s the thought of you in a nurse’s uniform. If you check my pulse, you’ll find it’s racing.

She rolled her eyes, “what am I going to do with you?”

“Come upstairs and I’ll show you.”

“The only reason for me to go upstairs with you will be to tuck you into bed. You’re ill, remember.”

“Spoilsport!”

“I’m serious Tommy, there will be plenty of time for me to fulfil all your naughty night nurse fantasies when you have got over your man-flu. Until then, you are to go back upstairs, get into bed, and wait for me to bring you breakfast.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll be a good patient, but only if you promise me that you won’t overthink things and change your mind. I know we have a lot to talk about; decisions that need to be made, and probably some compromises, but I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and any children that might come along.”

“I promise. I'm not going anywhere, we've both waited too long for this. I love you too."


End file.
